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Early Glimpse At SAT Score, For a Price

As if waiting for the results of the SAT test did not provoke enough anxiety among high school students, those who register online to take the test now face a new source of tension.

Thirteen days after taking the test, they receive an e-mail message from the College Board telling them that their scores are available online. But to see them right away, the students must pay an extra $13. If they can wait another eight days, the message says, the scores will be available free, online and by mail.

Some longtime critics of standardized testing say the College Board practice reeks of exploitation.

''What is particularly cynical, and demonstrates the way they are using anxiety as a profit center, is that they can put the numbers up there, and then withhold what is already available,'' said Bob Schaeffer, the public education director of FairTest, a group in Cambridge, Mass., that advocates fair and open testing. ''I'm hard-pressed to think of another context in which people are so worried about their results, and there's price-rationing for data that are available without any extra work.''

The College Board said that the service was simply an extra option to lessen the waiting period for those who are anxious. The e-mail process, the organization said, is an expansion of a telephone service for early test results that has been offered for several years. The scores-by-phone charge is also $13 over the regular $25 cost of the SAT test.

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But Mr. O'Reilly concedes that while he does not remember anyone griping about the phone fee, he has heard complaints from some students who receive the e-mail message telling them their scores are available online but they can only be seen for an extra fee.

''I must admit that some students have said, 'If I can see them free in a few days, why are you charging me now?''' Mr. O'Reilly said. ''The answer is that designing a Web site costs money, and while we try to keep the service fees low for things that are required to participate, we peg fees at a slightly higher rate for optional services, to help subsidize the other fees.''